Education, Social Cohesion and Economic Growth

Moshe Justman and Mark Gradstein

No 2773, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: Analysis of the contribution of education to growth through its role in promoting a common culture indicates that when different cultural groups separately determine the social content of their school curricula excessive polarization can result, with less than optimal growth. The optimal trajectory involves a gradual, reciprocal convergence of school curricula towards the middle ground. This may be difficult to implement in a political context in which all agents are identified with one group or another. When curricula are determined by legislative bargaining, centralization of schooling may result in overly rapid homogenization in some cases, and - perhaps surprisingly - excessive polarization in others.

Keywords: Social cohesion; Economic growth; Education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D70 I21 O40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001-04
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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